Category: Assignment-09

I made a horrifying ghoul for halloween, using a box, leds, servos, ping pong balls, vampire teeth and an arduino.

There is a photoresistor in its nose, which detects the amount of light in the environment. When the lights are off, the servos twitch at random angles to move the eyes and mouth. I used the autotune function from the circuit 6 in the SIK book so I didn’t have to calibrate it in different lighting environments.

I wanted to create on object that would encourage and react to certain types of interaction. The ghost I created will move forward to your hand smoothly and sweetly when you approach it slowly, but freaks out (jerky movement backward and forward fast) when you approach it too quickly. I’m using an infrared distance sensor to detect where someone is in relation to ghostie, and then I also calculate the rate at which someone is approaching ghostie.

My Hallowino project was heavily influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien and in anticipation of the upcoming “Hobbit” movie. I crafted a little box that is a “cage” for Gollum, a creepy and dangerous creature from Tolkien’s famous series. I placed two red LEDs in his eyes and I placed a force sensing resistor on the inside of a ring that looks like “the one ring”, the famous and coveted ring of power, from the books. When you put on the ring (and flex your hand or make a fist), Gollum sees that you have his Precious and his eyes glow red with rage!!!

For this project I created a rather dramatically lit scene of a grizzly animal sacrifice to an elder god. There are red LEDs that fade up, as well as a single bright white one that blinks on a variable time setting – both these are hooked up to a photo sensor – so as a person approaches the piece and blocks the light the lighting gets more frenetic and creepy.

For my project, I was first inspired by the way servo motors seemed to have a similar range of motion as a wrist. Since the project was Halloween themed, I decided to make some skeleton-like hands to attach to the servos. From there, I just kept adding in more parts to make it seem like some robotic skeleton, including two red LEDs as eyes. The last thing I put in to make it slightly more interactive was a photocell that increased the speed of the servo and intensity of the light when covered.

I decided to make a mutant Baby Pumpkin Monster in celebration of Hallowuino. If you leave ze monster alone, it is a peaceful jack-o-latern. But, if you push his button, he will seek revenge. His eyes will switch from a yellow glow to flashing red, and his arms will swing with the intent to attack you.

If I were to put this piece in gallery, there would be a spooky night background behind it, and a metal link chain would be wrapped around it making it look as if it is being restrained. There would also be a sign next to it that reads: “Beware of Monster: DO NOT PUSH HIS BUTTON”. For some reason it is a natural instinct for people to rebel and press the button in this case, thus making the piece interactive.

This was an exciting project. I used one flex sensor, one motor and a servo. The action is activated by "hurting the mummy"-this means bending him in places he does not want to bend. This upsets the Mummy and as you hurt him, he begins to writhe in pain - flailing his arms as his head spins.

I decided to make a creepy doll arm “graveyard” where the ground is made of (fake) fur. Three plastic doll arms are connected to Servo motors, and they rotate at a speed controlled by a sliding potentiometer. If the potentiometer is at its lowest value, the arms twitch instead of rotating.

Hallowuino!

Due Wednesday, October 31: Use a 9V battery to create a standalone (i.e. not connected to the computer) Halloween prop. It can be part of a costume, or a modification of a commercially available decoration (if you wish). It should be spoooky!

Shoot a video of the object in action; post it on YouTube and embed it in a blog post with the category Assignment-09.

It should have at least one input: buttons, potentiometer, sensors….

It should have some kind of output: LEDs and/or servo, etc. etc.

It should work without a computer attached. Program the Arduino, unplug the USB and plug the 9V cable. You can press the tiny reset button to restart the program.

You can use alligator clips or wire extensions to separate Arduino + board from sensors and actuators.

You can check the examples in the manual, like the DC motor…

LEDs themselves are not that exciting, but you can use all sorts of objects to diffuse their light ping-pong balls, balloons, pumpkins…